The Los Angeles Lakers missed a golden opportunity to narrow the gap in the standings when they hosted the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles got off to a hot start and took a 19-point lead against Sacramento before they completely squandered it from the second quarter onwards.
However, not only did the Lakers lose to the Kings but they also saw LeBron James walk gingerly off the court late in the game after he tweaked his left ankle. James has been bothered by his ankle throughout the 2023-24 season, though he said his ankle is alright after hurting it against Sacramento.
James missed the contest against the Milwaukee Bucks and head coach Darvin Ham explained it was because of soreness he was dealing with the ongoing ankle issue that has had him on the injury report for weeks.
“Just experiencing some severe soreness,” Ham said before the game. “Just decided for him not to play tonight.”
Ham added he’s unsure if James will need to manage his ankle for the rest of the season, but trusts James and the medical staff to do what they need to do to make sure the King is healthy. “I don’t know if it’s gonna be how it is. Bron does a good job of preparing himself to go to battle. It’s something that you definitely got to be aware of and constantly monitor.
“But he’s been great about being able to address certain things and be able to bounce back strong even at this stage of his career… I don’t think anybody’s injury at this point in the season or anything they’re managing will get better. It’s the reality of a long NBA season and an extremely long NBA career. So you just have to be mindful of it and be efficient with what you do with him and what you expose him to. We trust our staff that they’re gonna do their due diligence to make sure he’s put in the best possible position to help us.”
As Ham noted, no one is truly healthy at this point of the season and it feels like James is going to have to figure out a way to make himself available. Hopefully he’s good to go on Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Darvin Ham says Lakers are swinging for the fences in final regular season games
Time is running out for Los Angeles to climb up the standings, and they don’t get many breaks in March. However, Ham said that the Lakers will be swinging for the fences down the stretch.
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